“We do not forget nor should we forget”

Vahe H Apelian

 

The title of my blog is a quote.  If a reader is interested to find out who said it and in what context, I ask the reader to continue on reading this blog.

Friday April 5, 2024 is an important day in the life of Armenia and hence naturally in the lives of the Armenians world-wide.   Today, local time, the following press releases were issued, I quote: “YEREVAN, APRIL 5, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a meeting with Samantha Power, Administrator of the US Agency for International Development, at the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia in Belgium.” 

The other is the press release from the PM Nikol Pashinyan’ office. I quote: “President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, EU High Representative/Vice-President, Josep Borrell, Secretary of State of the United States of America, Antony Blinken, USAID Administrator Samantha Power, and Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, met today, April 5, 2024 in Brussels to reaffirm support for Armenia’s sovereignty, democracy, territorial integrity, and socio-economic resilience.”.

Armenia’s FM Ararat Mirzoyan has already announced that Armenia has no intention of applying for membership to NATO. Presently Nikol Pashinyan heads the Eurasian Economic Union, which is comprised of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia. Armenia has not resigned from CSTO but it has frozen its participation. But it is not far-fetched to imagine that the opposition in Armenia will let political fire loose in Armenia. But what is unexpected to me is the segment of the Armenians in the West who, individually or collectively as an organization, oppose Armenia’s tilt towards West, even though they live there and have no intentions of repatriating to Armenia, that is to say to the free and independent Republic of Armenia, Diaspora adviceted since the demise of the first Republic.. The past over thirty years have made that abundantly clear.

We are global nation and the sovereignty of Armenia can only be manifested in its right and ability to have a peaceful collaboration with any nation in the West, especially the U.S., as it does with the East. I am reminded of the following posting from Garo Armenian about the state of the first republic and America's vital assistance., I translated and posted on my blog. It read:

“The Republic Of Armenia was confronted with a widespread famine during the beginning of 1919. The government’s efforts to secure aid from outside had not resulted in any appreciative quantity of help. The Caucasus was under the occupation of the British forces. It was natural that the government of the Republic of Armenia would have expected that the British would be the first to extend help to ameliorate the dire conditions. The British response was rather passive and largely inadequate. The meager assistance the British provided from their reserves was not enough to make a dent in the prevailing condition.

It was under such circumstances that the government decided to immediately dispatch a delegation to the United States of America headed by the Prime Minister Kachaznouni. But for a long time the British occupying forces hindered the departure of the Armenian delegation. After a long delay, on April 16, the delegation received permission from the British forces to depart. Accompanying the Prime Minister were the Minister of Finance Ardashes Enfeyadjian, economist Haroutiun Pilarian and military officer Souren Melikian. I quote Simon Vratsian’s testimony

“The government’s delegation, the appeals by the government and the support of the Diaspora eventually were heard and aid was quickly dispatched. This time around it was the United States of America, the director of the U.S. Food Administration, Hoover, the one who salvaged Europe after the war, who became the real savior of the people of Armenia. Whatever happens, however we regard America’s role in the Armenian Question, we do not forget nor should we forget the U.S. humanitarian assistance to Armenia and the provisions they provided.   

The first American boat arrived to Batumi on March 21 carrying 125,000 sacks of flour. A week later another shipment of 600,000 sacks of flour arrived. To transport the provision, the American government requested from the Armenian Government 579 train wagons and 14 locomotives at a time when all that the Armenian Government had was 16 locomotives and 520 train wagons. The intervention of the American and the British governments was needed. For four days human traffic over the Armenian rail lines was halted and all facilities were appropriated for the transpiration of the flour only.

With the arrival of the American flour, the famine slowly started receding. The country started to embark on its normal course. The people and the government started to devote themselves towards reconstruction and structuring of the governance.” (Republic of Armenia, 2^ndedition, Lebanon).” ( https://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2019/02/republic-of-armenias-economic-status-in.html )

Armenia’s sovereignty, for the global nation we are, is indeed a measure of it establishing peaceful relations with any nation in the East and in the West, and for that matter with any nation in the North or in the South.